Tilith was agitated. She was quickly tapping her feet impatiently and looked around for James. What's taking him so long? He can't be that slow... Or maybe he's fighting against monsters. He doesn't look like he can have any problem with them, but… She then spotted James alongside with his two units walking nearby. "Hey! Over here!" She shouted while frantically waving her arms, trying to get their attention. The company turned to face her and began walking towards her.

She whined, "What took you so long?! Do you know how long I've waited here? It was boring!" She was ranting like a toddler, an attitude rather unfitting to a Goddess. Everyone did their best trying not to laugh or snicker.

James did a slight bow. "I'm sorry. I just got caught up with some… things."

Tilith sighed. "You didn't need to be so formal. Eh?" She faced to the black winged individual. "You summoned another unit?! Already?"

James scratched his head. "I did say I was caught up with some things."

Tilith nodded. "Well, that will make your journey easier. Having strong units is essential, but it's also important to fuse them."

"Fuse?" he inquired.

"It's when you strengthen units with other units to make them stronger. Once they're strong enough, they can evolve with specific units and become even stronger." Tilith explained.

To strengthen one by sacrificing another… James began to have doubts. I can't say it is the best plan. But if it's necessary, I have to try, though I'll hate myself for it…But still, is it truly right to do such a process? Is there no other way to make them stronger?

"Hey! Are you alright?" She shouted at his face.

He snapped out of his trance. "Sorry." He said.

She giggled. "You really do like to space out, don't you?"

"Sorry..." His head was down.

"Don't be so down. We have yet to begin this journey. You're not giving up early, are you?" She said, trying to cheer him up.

He shook his head. "No."

"Then we have to cross this plain first. We don't have the time to mope around, you know."

"Right. By the way, how many units can I have with me?" He inquired.

"Summoners can have a limitless amount of units at their disposal, but you can only bring six in battle. The reason is that there is only so much a parson can take, and using too much of your power will wear you out faster."

"I see. Okay, let's move."

And so the party began their trek through the Adventurers Prairie, slaying whatever monster got in the way. It seemed very easy; then again it was only the start of their journey. Most of the enemies were slimes that ranged in different colors, but new enemies began to appear, such as harpies, goblins, mermen and mandragoras. As each enemy was defeated, they faded away, dropping blue crystals similar to the ones that were made from Tiliths magic.

Ardin observed James' fighting style from a distance while fighting off some enemies, he was impressed. "You really know how to fight, do you?" He asked while blocking a couple of harpies' thunder attacks.

"Yeah." He responded while sidestepping to dodge a merman's spear. He kicked the spear out of its hands and stabbed it with his great sword. "We must keep moving forward." He said.

Ardin smirked "These guys are child's play." He scoffed. "This is starting to bore me."

"You and me both..." James replied.

One by one, enemies fell, and the group kept moving through the plains. After a while, a cave was in sight, but in the way were two large slimes. They were both large and wore crowns, much like the green one from before, but these two were different. One was white and it had numerous glowing orbs around it, staring at it was difficult due to the brightness that came from it. The other one was dark purple, it wore a scowl on its face, and it had two bat wings on its side, but due to its size, they couldn't help it fly.

James turned to face Ardin. "You're up. Let's see what you can do." James took a few steps back.

"Fine. I'll end it here." Ardin closed his eyes and began to concentrate. His body and his sword were enveloped in dark energy. "Plum Scent" He whispered. With blinding speed he rushed at the two large slimes and swung his sword with quick rapid slashes, shock waves formed with every swing. As this was happening, a purple hexagram formed and expanded underneath the slimes, and a strange purple light shone over the party. It felt warm, but it felt odd, almost like there was some feeling of negativity that can be felt from this light.

Vargas, Ardin and James, were surrounded with a faint white glow, but at the same time black-purple electricity crackled occasionally on their bodies. "What's going on?" Vargas wondered.

"You can do light and dark attacks now, but for only a short while." Ardin replied.

"Awesome!" Vargas shouted.

James nodded. A technique that allows others to use the light and dark element? I'm beginning to think this summon was TOO coincidental. "That's impressive. Vargas! Ardin! It's time to deal the killing blow!" He shouted.

The trio charged at the two slimes, who were at this point very exhausted due to Ardins Brave Burst. They faded away shortly after being cut down. In addition to dropping battle crystals, they also dropped strange blue orbs, which were quickly absorbed by James. What were those blue orbs? He wondered.

Tilith ran up to the group to congratulate them. "You guys were awesome! You just may be able to handle this after all!" She began to run ahead of the group. "I'll meet you up at the cave. Take your time to prepare yourself. Don't take too long though." She ran off into the caves entrance and disappeared as she went inside.

James uttered a small chuckle. "What a strange Goddess…" He then began thinking to himself. She's right, i do need to prepare. I can't go on a journey without some supplies, especially in a world I don't even know…

"What next?" Ardin asked.

"We need to prepare. We need to be ready before we actually start our journey." The trio began to make their way back to the Village of the Venturer.

After repeating the process of locating and crossing the gate, they found themselves by the trail leading to the village again. Upon entering the village they see Karl again, who slung his halberd over his shoulder as he stood underneath the wooden arch. "Hey!" He shouted.

"Hey." James responded.

"Didn't expect you to be back. What's up?"

"I forgot to fill up on items and decided to get back here."

"Smart move. You can never be too safe."

James walked into the house where he performed synthesis for the first time and began checking the book for items he could craft. The only items that were available at the moment were cures, antidote, tonic, holy water and stimulants. Every other entry was blank. He was disappointed. That's all? I expected more, but if this is all, I guess I have no choice. He got to work. Getting whatever ingredients he could find around the village and crafting whatever he could make. Soon his satchel was filled to the brim with 10 of each item, yet its shape remained the same. "Huh. Didn't think it could carry that many. And still light too… This is definitely a magical item." He walked out to see his units and Karl outside waiting.

"Hey. I can't create much here, why is that?" He asked Karl.

Karl was confused. "That's odd. There should have been more items available." He walked out to the house between the farm and the synthesis house. Inside was a rather large container, there was a small knob at the base, each side a different label: Mountain, River, Farm, Forest, Sphere and Synthesis. The containers were translucent, were they empty? He looked to see six screens, they had the same labels like the knob, what's odd was that all of them showed "Level 1".

"Oh dear." Karl said with a worried expression.

"What?"

"Didn't think it would run out now…"

"What are you talking about?"

"You see. This place is run by an energy source called Karma."

"Karma?"

"It's the life energy obtained when defeating a monster. It's used to helps plants grow, keeps the water clean, keeps the mountain stable and used when creating spheres. I don't know how it's empty now…"

James' eyes, err eye, widened with curiosity. "It does all that?"

"Yeah. It's hard to believe I know. Do you ever see blue orbs in addition to battle crystals after you defeat an enemy?"

"Yes."

"That's karma. It gets stored in there; you can unlock new items to make and gain more materials as it gets filled up."

"I'll be sure to contribute whatever I can."

"Thanks a lot." Karl then realized something. "Oh! Sorry. I have to go. I've just been assigned to the Demon Slayers Division, but I guess you have no idea what that means."

James' raised an eyebrow. "I can sort of understand. You've been assigned a mission, right?"

"Yeah. I'd better go before-" He was immediately cut off by a woman's voice.

"Hey Karl! What the heck's taking so long?!" The voice came from near the entrance.

They both turned to see a woman stomping furiously to them. She too wore armor, though in a red color and had the eye color to match. Her brown hair was tied up into a ponytail, and she held a great sword on her right hand. "You know we have a mission so-" She quickly turned to James, glaring at him. "Who's this?"

Karl chuckled. "That's James. He helped me earlier when I was in a bind." He turned to James. "That's Seria; she's a friend of mine."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "This guy? He looks like he was the one who put you in that "bind" in the first place."

James sighed. Here we go again. "I can understand that you would think that, but I didn't."

Seria scoffed. "Maybe, you look too clueless to do something like that." Her tone was condescending.

He scoffed back. "You have yet to know who I am, so I wouldn't make any base accusations or insults about me."

"Same can be said for you." She sneered.

James chucked. "I guess we're both clueless then." His expression remained calm.

"Don't put me at the same level as you!" she retorted.

"Okay. Let's not get carried away." Karl intervened. "We should go, demons can't hunt themselves."

Seria calmed down a bit. "Fine, anything that can help me get away from this idiot."

James nodded. "I guess it's high time we get moving as well." He turned to his units.

Karl began to walk up to James. "This is where we part ways, friend. I hope we cross paths later."

James shook hands with him. "Likewise. All the best with your mission."

"Same for yours. By the way, here." He hands to James a small bag, containing three gems. "This should help you get started. Remember, you need five in order to perform this summon."

"Are you sure? I mean, this is yours."

Karl smiled. "It's not a problem; I have my ways in obtaining more. Besides, you need it more than I do."

"Thank you."

"Can you hurry up already?!" Seria yelled impatiently.

"Okay, you didn't need to be so loud." Karl chuckled as quickly ran to catch up with Seria.

James chuckled to himself and sighed. It's nice to have friends... Especially those who look after you. He stared down to the ground, his expression became a bit depressed. I wonder how everyone else is doing right now...

"Oi!" Vargas shouted. "Are we gonna start this quest or not?"

Ardin joined in."You can't be serious. How long are you gonna make US wait?"

James walked up to his units. "Sorry, kind of spaced out there for a second. Let's go guys." He began to walk to the town's entrance.

"What's up with him? He gets too distracted." Ardin wondered.

"Beats me. I've seen him like this a couple of times before and I still don't understand him." Vargas answered.

"Huh."

James yelled from underneath the archway. "And here I thought you guys wanted to get this quest started? You two coming?"

The party once again left the Village of the Venturer, heading toward to the Cave to where Tilith was, as they resume their quest.

Gem count: 3